India to witness more than 11,500 startups ecosystem by 2020

With India becoming world’s fastest growing startup ecosystem country today, Startup India is the new buzzword by the Government of India. The numbers are telling—from 3,100 startups in 2014 to a projection of more than 11,500 by 2020… this is certainly not a passing trend.

Venture capital investments in India reached INR 15,600 crore (US$ 2363) till June 2015, surpassing the total INR 14,850 crore (US$ 2250) invested in entire 2014, setting the stage for another record year as interest in local technology startups peak.

In order to highlight the specific areas of growth opportunities and challenges being faced in and by the incubation ecosystem, Incubation India 2015, a Conference on Business Labs comprising the Investor, Incubator startups ecosystem was organized in Delhi today.

Dr. RaghunandanRajamani, Executive Director, Indian Steps & Business Incubators Association says, “India needs several folds increase in mechanism such as incubation & acceleration that can assimilate entrepreneurs to make them globally successful.”

Incubation in India is not more than decade old but it has and can create a huge impact. Incubation in healthcare and life sciences is far too complex if we were to compare it with IT. Healthcare is a very social subject hence tightly regulated and needs a completely different and dynamic ecosystem to take the product from bench side to bed side.

As per the detailed analysis by BIORx Venture Advisors, Healthcare is a favourable incubation sector and liked by all the investors as long as it is asset light but technologically sound and patentable. Mr. Gandhi, Founder & Executive Director, BIORx Venture Advisors Pvt. Ltd.  says that medical devices is one such sub sector which is gaining a lot of traction from all the players of the ecosystem. This is largely on the assumption that India's own domestic consumption for such products is very high hence financially lucrative and viable for the medium to long-stage investors who will benefit the country’s healthcare needs.”

Various Key decision makers, Start-ups, Incubators, VC’s& Young Entrepreneurs were the part of this first of its kind niche Conference in India to discuss theInitiatives taken to promote the concept of technology and business incubation in India, Marketing & communications strategies for early stage startups,Incubating in Healthcare sector: Opportunities and Challenges.

According to Mr. Kapil Malhotra, Founder Marketing Director, Total Solutions Group, “A part of the Total Solutions Group Have been investing in startups over the past decade ranging from telecom, FMCG, IT, skill development amongst others. We believe that India is at the perfect point to offer entrepreneurs opportunities for growth through incubation that has not been previously available. Events like Incubation India are the perfect platform for bringing entrepreneurs, incubators, funders &mentors together. We believe that many of the start ups present today will become unicorns of the future.”

Themed ‘Creating Value 360°’, the Incubation India 2015 conference provided an opportunity for interactive discussions and insights on incubation trends, solutions and unique initiatives.       

According to Mr. Ashish Taneja, CO-Founder & Managing Director, Grow X Ventures,“It’s a great initiative by Incubation India to raise awareness about role of an Incubator and Accelerator on the Initial step of Startup.”